Penguin Party

Bennett had a great party with his friends and family. We did a penguin theme. I decided on that after I saw some really cute invitations at Target. For months after Bennett was born I called him my fat little bird (hence his being a rooster for Halloween), and I thought since after a year old he's technically a toddler and moving on from bird-hood, I'd do one more "fat little bird"-type thing. I also thought it made sense doing penguins being the Christmas season and all :) So anyway, we ordered a penguin cake from Texas Star Bakery (if you've never had one of their cakes, you should definitely try it). It's where we had our wedding and groom's cake done. They can make pretty much anything you want them to and it's absolutely delicious.
Now I'm not ordinarily a naturally creative person, but I felt pretty good about the way our little shindig came together. We had balloons and cake and a little Christmas tree with snowflakes. We also had Bennett's one year pictures out that he'd had made the day before (I also highly recommend the Picture People at NE Mall. They have great props, their prices are good, and you get your pictures back like 15 min. later).
Bennett's great-Nandy was there and great uncle and aunt and several little friends, along with my best friends from college, LB and Molly. We ate cake (Bennett made a decent mess with his smash cake), opened presents, and played with a ridiculous amount of toys. He got the COOLEST present EVER from his great Granny and Grandpa - a soft, realistic looking spring horse that talks and sings! Bennett LOVES this thing! He begs me to make him sing his "giddy-up" song and then bounces along. This horse is going to last him till he's 4-5 years old (or until he loses interest - whichever comes first). Granny Grandpa admitted they got a little carried away but he's their first great-grandchild and they said every boy should have a spring horse :)
So anyway, the party was great, and surprisingly stress-free (I don't really enjoy hosting parties and get-togethers - it typically stresses me out - I'd much rather help somebody else host at their house). It ran so smoothly. So thanks to all of you who went and for all of you reading who don't really care about all this but are keeping in touch with what's going on with the Campbells :)